Judges Questioned Use of Cellphone Tracking Devices

Judges in California, like a few others across the country, have raised concerns about federal use of cellphone tracking devices known as “stingrays,” suggesting that investigators have been using the technology without explaining to judges exactly what they are doing, according to internal Justice Department emails.

Stingrays simulate a cellphone tower and can locate a phone even if it isn’t making a call. A handful of federal judges have now expressed concerns about similar cellphone tracking technologies, particularly because federal officers have been using them after getting lower court orders that don’t meet the same standard as search warrants.

In California, emails written by several U.S. attorneys in 2011 indicate that this has become what they describe as a “problem” in that state as well. One of the emails explains that magistrate judges there have “collective concerns” about whether the court orders, known as pen register orders, are “sufficient to authorize the use” of the technology.